The Jubilee Express: Storm Trouble

Jubilee is a 16-year-old girl waiting for Smorgasbord on Christmas Eve. Her parents were taken into custody because they were part of a huge fight for some pieces of a Christmas Village. Since she couldn't spend Christmas by herself, her parents decided to send Jubilee all the way to her grandparents' house down in Florida. She had to ride a train since there were no flights because of the snowstorm and also because it was Christmas Eve. Everything was going fine in the train; Jubilee met a guy named Jeb and she was having a  decent ride, but then the train crashed into a huge pile of snow. Jubilee didn't want to stay in the train until it got back in track because that cold take hours or even days, so she decided to go across the street to The Waffle House. When she got there she ordered some food and met a nice guy that had some plastic bags in his head and hands. His name was Stuart and they became sort of friends so he invited Jubilee to spend the night in his house since the train wasn´t working. Jubilee agreed. In the way to Stuart's house they both fell into a frozen creek in which the ice wasn´t frozen enough. When they managed to get out they both were so cold that they could barely walk. When they got to Stuart´s house they both took hot showers and then put some cozy PJ´s and then ate some dinner. After a while, Stuart set up the couch with some pillows and blankets so that she could spend the night there, and after a while, Jubilee fell asleep.

"I'm going to get back to my house," he said, slipping his hand across the table as cushioning and preventing me from doing myself any damage. "Why don't you come with me? At least it's out of the snow. My mom would never forgive me if I didn't ask you if you needed somewhere to go." 
(Johnson, 41)

I was really impressed when I read this passage because not any person offers a stranger to come over to their place. I was kind of shocked of how kind Stuart was. He was so sweet and amiable and he was willing to risk inviting a stranger over to his house.

“Poor thing,” she said again. “Don’t you worry. We’ll get you warm again. Sorry I couldn’t find anything to fit you better. Those are Stuart’s, and the only clean ones I could find in the laundry. I put your clothes in the washer, and your shoes and coat are drying on the heater, if you need to call anyone you just go right ahead. Don’t worry if it’s long distance.”
(Johnson, 59)

This quote also really shocked me because Debbie (Stuart’s mom) was so welcoming and so warm with Jubilee, as if she were her own daughter. She offered everything she needed even a long distance call. She didn’t care that she was a stranger who was going to sleep at her house, the only thing that mattered to her, was that Jubilee was warm enough and well fed so that she could feel just as in home.

         These first eight chapters were really interesting because I’ve never read any other story that has so many things going on like this one. Jubilee has to go to Smorgasbord, meanwhile her parents are in jail and she has to go to Florida because she can’t spend Christmas alone. Then her train crashes and she goes to a waffle house.  She meets a guy that invites her over to his place so that she doesn’t spend the night alone in the waffle house. Then Jubilee meets Debbie, Stuart’s mom and she lets her spend the night with them and treats her just like a daughter. It is a lot of stuff for only eight chapters. This book is a little weird too because it is written by three authors and it has three different stories and they are all different except that they all take place during winter.